Locals won’t poach Arizona tourism

Hoteliers, agencies not capitalizing on boycott

FILE - This April 29, 2010 file photo shows Josephine Nevarez, of Phoenix, holding a sign in protest as she attends a news conference where it was announced that The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, with the support of several other activist groups, had filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction preventing authorities from enforcing the new Arizona immigration law at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix. Arizona is facing a backlash over its new law cracking down on illegal immigrants, with opponents pushing for a tourism boycott like the one that was used to punish the state 20 years ago over its refusal to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with a holiday. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
— AP

FILE - This April 29, 2010 file photo shows Josephine Nevarez, of Phoenix, holding a sign in protest as she attends a news conference where it was announced that The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, with the support of several other activist groups, had filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction preventing authorities from enforcing the new Arizona immigration law at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix. Arizona is facing a backlash over its new law cracking down on illegal immigrants, with opponents pushing for a tourism boycott like the one that was used to punish the state 20 years ago over its refusal to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with a holiday. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
/ AP

If there’s anyone who knows the financial pain of a politically motivated boycott, it’s San Diego Hyatt hotel executive Kelly Commerford. His boss’s financial support of the statewide campaign to ban gay marriage is thought to have cost the bayfront hotel millions in lost bookings.

But Commerford said the Manchester Grand Hyatt would be the last to capitalize on Arizona’s tourism troubles as some call for boycotting the state in light of its new immigration law.

“If we aggressively targeted their business, it would be very similar to those targeting us (regarding) Mr. Manchester’s donations,” said Commerford, the Hyatt’s marketing director. “I’ve been on the other end of that stick. It’s not fun.”

San Diego hoteliers and tourism agencies are politely adhering to the unwritten axiom that thou shalt not poach another’s business when calamity strikes.

If groups looking to stay away from Arizona come calling in San Diego, they’ll be warmly welcomed, but a special campaign to nab their business is thought unseemly. Other convention and visitors bureaus in the state agree, pointing out that they didn’t go out and court business destined for San Diego when the county was consumed by wildfires three years ago.

“I think we definitely sympathize with those in our industry because we’ve faced the same thing in California with other issues, like Proposition 8 (the gay-marriage ban), and there were calls for boycotts over that,” said Mike McDowell, chief executive of the San Diego Lodging Industry Association. “So to become a tool for a political agenda at the price of jobs, that is a sad situation. There might be hotels that may be able to reach out to meeting planners and say, ‘We have space here,’ but I don’t think we’ll do a major ad that says, ‘Sorry about Arizona — come to San Diego.’ ”

Tourism is an $18.5 billion industry in Arizona. In a move to head off convention and business-meeting defections to other destinations, state tourism officials quickly created a Facebook page urging visitors not to “punish 200k tourism employees for politics!”

The Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association reported Friday that in the past week, 19 groups have canceled plans to come to the state for meetings, accounting for more than 15,000 room nights and an economic impact of more than $6 million.

“The only reason we’re standing up is because our employees need a voice,” said Kristen Jarnagin, spokeswoman for the hotel association. “We’ve already been going through an incredibly trying 24 months. We’re just starting to see a glimmer of recovery, and now we’re hit with this.”

San Diego-based ResMed, which makes breathing devices for those with sleep apnea, has a small regional sales meeting planned for Scottsdale this month but has no plans to cancel because of the boycott, a spokeswoman said.

Arizona’s boycott could, in fact, have a deleterious impact on San Diego’s $6.9 billion visitor industry should it remain in effect for a prolonged period of time, said Joe Terzi, president of the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau.

There are roughly 2 million annual overnight visitors from Arizona — roughly 14 percent of the county’s 14.4 million overnight guests. Should the boycott lead to job losses and cutbacks in spending in Arizona, fewer Arizonans would be able to afford travel to San Diego, Terzi said.

“Those individuals are critical to the health of San Diego’s leisure tourism business, particularly during the summer months, so it’s important to make sure they still come to San Diego,” he said. “We want to win our business fairly, so we’re not at all interested in overtly bashing the destination and convincing people they should come here instead.”

Cami Mattson, Terzi’s counterpart in North County, is taking a more assertive stance, saying her tourism agency plans to seek out meeting business that might otherwise have chosen Arizona for conferences and conventions. But her team will stay away from existing bookings, she noted.

“We’re looking at undecided people, people who may have a pattern of going to Arizona and are still in the decision-making phase. We can provide an alternative choice if they’re in that limbo position,” said Mattson, president of the San Diego North Convention & Visitors Bureau. “But we’re not going to take a political action.”

While San Francisco officials have entered the political fray, calling for their own boycott of Arizona, the city’s tourism chief has openly opposed it. Like San Diego tourism leaders, he has no interest in deliberately going after travel business in Arizona beyond what’s normally pursued.

“We feel travel boycotts don’t work and hurt the people they’re intended to help,” said Joe D’Alessandro, president of the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau. “When you guys had the fires, we would never have gone after business that might have considered relocating. If you look greedy, it does in the long term hurt that destination.”